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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27176816">Shikata Ga Nai, or, The Rescue</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arminius_Fiddywinks/pseuds/Arminius_Fiddywinks'>Arminius_Fiddywinks</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Rescue Missions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:21:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,762</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27176816</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arminius_Fiddywinks/pseuds/Arminius_Fiddywinks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello are captured by the Foot Clan for reasons unknown, it is up to Michelangelo, April, Casey, and Master Splinter himself to rescue them underneath Grand Central Station. But what will happen when they find something truly sinister?</p>
<p>A short one-chapter story, with blood, violence, and strong language. (also my first TMNT story!)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Shikata Ga Nai, or, The Rescue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I was deeply suspicious of the nigh-total lack of guards in the entrance to the secret Foot Clan base beneath Grand Central Station. Not a single soul, a single Foot bot, disguised or otherwise, stood against us as we snuck in. The metallic groaning and clacking of the heating pipes over my head were the only sounds accompanying me, aside from the slight jostling of the chains on my nunchaku, and the footsteps of April O’Neil and Casey Jones behind me. They were relatively untrained compared to myself, so they did not know how to properly suppress the noise of their movements. They did, however, their best to follow me and every single one of my footsteps. I hugged the wall, bathing my body in the shadow as I quietly scampered forward, still wary at the absence of opposition to our movements. Surely the Foot Clan would have guards <em>somewhere</em> in their facility. But no. Nothing. Nobody. I thought to myself, <em>something is wrong. Very wrong</em>. Indeed it was, as I was about to find out myself.</p>
<p>Master Splinter himself joined us on this rescue mission, so as to complete this ad-hoc team of four. As he was far more experienced that all of us plus my brothers combined, he elected to enter the base via a different route on his own. It was most certainly in his power to defeat all of the Foot Clan here by himself, but I would never let that happen. I would never let my own father put himself in that danger without my brothers and I right beside him. And so, we worked together, with April and Casey, to rescue my three brothers. How the Foot Clan managed to abduct them, I know not. Perhaps Karai, in her machinations or her carnal manipulations, managed to trick or seduce Leonardo, and thus use him to lure Raphael and Donatello likewise into a devious trap. Or perhaps they somehow made a mistake, something which unfortunately happens from time to time as we are all mortal beings, and with mortality comes imperfection. In any case, the temerity of the Foot Clan’s plots will end now, for my heart on this night was filled with little more than an impassioned desire to liberate my brothers and exact vengeance on those responsible for such heinous acts as kidnapping my brothers for some sort of evil scheme.</p>
<p>The three of us came up to a door, and as we approached the worn steel of the portal, my heart rose up into my throat, and I felt its intense beat throughout my body. I felt, I almost <em>knew</em> the full strength of the Foot Clan in this base would be waiting for us behind the door. If we were very, very lucky, Master Splinter instead would be behind the door, standing amidst a sea of unconscious Foot ninja and disabled Foot bots. However, I felt no good fortune shower over me this night. I breathed in deep and said to April and Casey, “Get ready for a fight, guys.”</p>
<p>“I’m right behind you, Mikey,” said April.</p>
<p>“Ditto, dude,” added Casey.</p>
<p>I tried the door handle, and it turned all the way down with slight pressure from my hand, its chromed veneer glistening in the faded light from the fixture above the door, coated in a thin layer of dust, grime, and muck. The door was unlocked, so I pushed forward and opened the door, which made a distinct, creaking noise. I cared not whether we were detected or not anymore, for I strongly felt that no matter what, we were being toyed with. We were expected. The room the three of us entered was large, very large, and open. The floor was solid concrete, with heating and water pipes drawing lines throughout the walls and ceiling. Fluorescent lights bathed the room itself with a faded light similar to the fixture above the door the three of us just went through. It must have been some sort of storage room of the sorts, because it was so large and open. There were two steel stairways leading to a platform above on the far side of the room, and double-doors at the very end, also on the platform.</p>
<p>I caught sight of a figure leaning on the railway, reading a newspaper nonchalantly. I knew him well, for it was Tiger Claw, one of the Shredder’s henchmen. His firearms hung lazily from their holsters on his hips, and his bandolier seemed full of ammunition. Utterly unconcerned with our presence, he sighed as he closed the newspaper and dropped it onto a small table beside him. He turned to face me, placing one hand on the railing.</p>
<p>“Ah, Michelangelo, yes?” asked Tiger Claw. “We were expecting you sooner.”</p>
<p>“It’s called being fashionably late, catnip!” I retorted. “Where’s my brothers?”</p>
<p>“They’re safe… for now,” uttered Tiger Claw deviously. He chuckled. “Don’t worry. Soon, you shall meet them again, arrogant boy. And your human friends that you brought with you… heh. They will be as dead as your precious father in a short while.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, in your dreams, pussycat,” Casey remarked. Tiger Claw growled at Casey’s comment, scowling at the three of us. At this point I… I felt something. Sensed another presence. The presence of a… a crowd. A whole host of… of warriors. A bead of sweat dripped from the side of my head, and I put away my nunchaku, and from my belt, I took out my kurasigama. Then, Tiger Claw he made a hand gesture, and from the shadows, came forth the ninja I was expecting. Dozens. Maybe even a hundred. They silently stepped from the darkness, until one particular ninja, a somewhat middle-aged man clad in the uniform black garb of the rest of his comrades, dashed forth from the shadow, a fierce intensity in his eyes, wielding a katana. He shouted out a war-cry, and leaped from the platform, followed by several other armed figures in black.</p>
<p>“Rally to me!” I yelled out. As I readied my kurasigama, I felt the backs of April and Casey fall upon my shell. Soon, we three were encircled by ninja, the eye of the storm. I heard April unfurl her war fans, while Casey no doubt wielded his hockey stick. We were surrounded by flesh-and-blood humans, a departure from the previously robotic Foot ninja we formerly faced in combat.</p>
<p>“Dude, we’re outnumbered,” said Casey with a shaky voice.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I see that,” uttered April worriedly. “Mikey, what’s the plan?”</p>
<p>I shut my eyes as I firmly gripped my kurasigama. Breathing slowly and deeply, I centered myself, clearing my mind of all distractions, all tempestuous thoughts. There was only me, my weapon, and the enemy. As I opened my eyes once more, they took on the distinct stark white visual of determination.</p>
<p>“Capture the turtle,” said Tiger Claw. “Kill the humans.”</p>
<p>“Duck!” I yelled. And so, the two of them ducked. The lead ninja yelled forth, and his comrades rushed us. Almost instinctively I whipped my kurasigama around me, the blade screaming through the air, the chain snapping forth, and a circle of ninja were struck, their flesh sundered by the speed and fury of my opening move. They screamed out in agony before falling to the floor, their blood flowing onto the cold hard concrete. The rest of the ninja were shaken by the ferocity and wide nature of my movement. To further rattle my opponents, once I retrieve my now bloodied weapon, I threw forth the chain of the kurasigama, wrapping it around the neck of the lead ninja. While he was choking, I pulled him to me, and plunged the blade into the leader’s neck. He uttered a ghastly gurgling noise before falling to the ground, my weapon still embedded in him. I grabbed his katana and readied myself for counters from his comrades.</p>
<p>“Go!” I ordered. Casey threw down several bombs, taking out scores of ninja, and he charged forward. April stepped forward too, and engaged in combat with her dual war fans. At that moment, I slashed the area in front of me, killing a small handful of ninja that rushed to attack. These were people I was killing. Actual people with thoughts and feelings and motivations for being in the Foot Clan. But in that moment, I cared not for who they were, what they were like at home, if they had children or parents or loved ones they wanted to hug and kiss when they got home. That mattered not to me. What mattered is that they were in the way of me rescuing my brothers, and I would cut them down like how a farmer cuts down wheat with his scythe.</p>
<p>More swings, more lunges, more slashes, and more and more ninja were slain. I dodged or parried so many sword swings and counterattacks I quickly lost count. Some ninja attempted to take me down with shuriken or kunai, but I either dodged them entirely, blocked them with my commandeered katana (no mean feat, I assure you), shielded myself with my shell, or just used another ninja as a shield.</p>
<p>I do believe it is indeed easier to fight a host of enemies while one is alone, for they must coordinate their efforts together, as a team, lest they be felled by friendly fire or an ally’s blow. But the individual, the loner, he may move as he please, attack as he please, block as he please. He does not just have the whole attention of the room, he is the puppet master. How he moves, the group moves. That is power. But common sense still applies: ultimately, the individual is outnumbered, and must therefore divide his time and attention to each part of the whole, lest he be felled by an unseen thrust or swing. To even the playing field, I unleashed my nunchaku, and used it as an off-hand weapon to parry attacks while simultaneously making offensive moves of my own with my katana.</p>
<p>With an almost otherworldly grace and speed I deftly maneuvered, narrowly dodging innumerable attacks from enemy swordsmen, sometimes parrying their swings with my own captured blade or nunchaku. This reminds me, I do not advise fighting a swordsman with nunchaku, especially one that is as experienced as Leonardo. Or Donatello. With Raphael… I can get away with it. The single greatest disadvantage nunchaku have against swords is their very short reach, comparable to daggers or knives. One should avoid fighting a swordsman with nunchaku. I rely on my brothers in the heat of combat to be truly effective with the weapons, and as an individual wielding nunchaku against sword-users, I knew of its shortcomings when without adequate support. Now, I am not discounting the skill of April or Casey, but they do not live and breathe ninjutsu. Neither combat nor stealth is not their life. They have knowledge, yes, they are being taught in the schools, but they do not put real heart, real passion into living the life of a ninja. And that is why they need me more than I need them… but I do wholeheartedly appreciate and are indebted to their support at this time, and indeed at any time.</p>
<p>After kicking away an attacker, which caused him to stumble into a group of ninja charging at me, thus giving me a moment’s reprieve, I looked around, scanning the area quickly. April seemed to be doing well, holding off two attackers simultaneously with her war fans: however, she was unable to deliver any sort of offensive maneuver. Then, I looked for Casey. With a blurred figure streaking about the room, I knew what he was doing: he was on his roller skates, putting distance between him and any would-be attacker, keeping them further at bay with his hockey sticks, occasionally stunning one with a well-placed blow. He is an excellent distraction, but ultimately he is less-than-lethal. My mind returned to the enemies before me, and I thrust my katana into one of them, swinging my nunchaku at the faces of the others, driving them back.</p>
<p>I do not know how much time had passed. It could have been a minute, it could have been an hour, but by now, the battlefield was thinning, the once deafening noise of screaming, the clash of weapons, and the battle cries faded. After I cut down one of the last ninja who stood before me, there was but one left. He was my height, so shorter than the other ninja. He held his ninjato with both hands, but the blade shook in his uneasy grip. Having taken a ready position, the blade was pointed in my general direction, but I sensed the user behind it lacking in confidence, in will. I stepped closer to him, panting, blood splattered across my visage and torso. None of it was mine.</p>
<p>I looked around briefly. April had sliced open the throats of her two attackers, and I saw more ninja lying before her, dead. From just a glance I felt the horror that filled her. Her breaths were shaky, her eyes in shock as she stared at the carnage created by her hand. Casey managed to throw his last bombs at the few ninja pursuing him, and he stopped his movements, also panting heavily. He bent over, exhausted, the end of his hockey stick coated in a thin layer of blood. He chuckled, but it was not an act of humor, but of nervous stress. He too took in his surroundings and shut his mouth tight, holding back vomit. I looked back at my terrified opponent, who failed to use that opening to strike. <em>Barely a novice</em>, I thought to myself. I blinked once, bringing my pupils back into full view, eschewing the stark white my eyelids would previously exhibit. I took a deep breath and then swung my captured katana left to right, which caused my opponent’s own sword to fall from his hands. He stumbled back in fear, falling onto the floor beside several of his dead comrades. My sword’s point was placed directly against my downed adversary, but I kept it at bay, refusing to strike such a person down.</p>
<p>“How old are you?” I asked. He did not respond. I examined the man further, and noticed a deep tan color around his eyes. So, I guessed.</p>
<p>“¿Quantos años tienes?” I asked again.</p>
<p>“Dieciseis,” the Hispanic ninja replied. Sixteen. My age. I sighed deeply and frowned.</p>
<p>“Ve a tu casa,” I told him, saying that he should go home. “No necesitas morir hoy.” And I told him that he did not need to die today. “Vamos, rapido.” He brought himself up to his feet, ripped off his mask, and ran off to the door, tears welling up at the sides of his eyes. His face was that of a boy, barely a man, barely old enough to hold a sword. After he left, I looked down to my own hand, and at the blade it had within its grasp. It was soaked with blood. I stared for what seemed to be eons, studying the red liquid coating the tamahagane that made this sword and others like it famed across the world for both its beauty and its viciousness. And I was one of its wielders. I, a boy barely a man, cut down dozens of other men with this blade, itself an extension of me, should the schools of martial arts be properly followed.</p>
<p>“Mikey,” said April, winded. “The others…”</p>
<p>“Yeah, gotcha,” I answered quickly.</p>
<p>I refused to indulge my mind in a new philosophy lesson, and returned my focus to the task at hand: this was a rescue mission, the slaughter was simply a side effect, collateral damage. As I ran up the stairs to the platform, Tiger Claw was nowhere to be found. Neither did I find any more of Shredder’s henchmen, not Bebop or Rocksteady or even Karai. Nothing. Then, as I ran towards the double doors at the end of the room, atop the platform, they swung open, and from the other side came my three brothers: Leonard, Raphael, and Donatello. They seemed greatly fatigued, mostly hunched over, lethargically clinging to their weapons.</p>
<p>“Leo! Raph! Donnie!” I yelled excitedly, moving towards them. They turned their gazes upwards to me, and were profoundly shocked. I stopped before them, the wide grin on my face retracting slightly.</p>
<p>“Mikey…” said Leonardo wearily. He struggled to keep his eyes open, breathing deeply. “What happened to you…?”</p>
<p>“Mike… are you hurt?” asked Raphael. He seemed dejected. Donatello said nothing, but had a look on his face like his whole world was crushed. Then, I knew. They thought I was dying, or at the very least severely injured.</p>
<p>“Oh, no, no bros, I’m fine,” I said, almost pleading. “I mean, none of it’s mine.” I talked of the blood that drenched both me and the sword I had in my hand. The three of them breathed a collective sigh of relief.</p>
<p>“So… you’re not injured?” asked Donatello.</p>
<p>“Nu-uh,” I answered, shaking my head. The three of them looked as if a great weight was lifted off of their shoulders. The grin on my face started to grow back to its prominent length again. Suddenly, however, some sort of radio placed at the foot of the table where Tiger Claw put the newspaper down crackled to life. I glanced at it as static blurted from the piece of technology. The voice of none other than Shredder emanated from it.</p>
<p>“Michelangelo,” he said. A frown instantly morphed onto my mouth. <em>“Shikata ga nai.”</em> A Japanese phrase, it roughly translates to “It cannot be helped”. After Shredder uttered that statement, the radio was turned off. I was initially greatly confused by his wording. “It cannot be helped?” He was talking to me and me alone, was he not? Why? For what purpose? What could not be helped?</p>
<p>“Well, that was weird,” I said, turning to my brothers. However, they looked markedly different. They… they <em>felt</em> different. It was as if their energy suddenly rushed back into them, but then was twisted and contorted into something… something malevolent. The stark white eyes that we would all take on when we cleared our minds for high-intensity combat were present on them. I immediately moved into a ready stance with my captured katana. “Uh… guys? You alright?” They stood perfectly still, until, without any warning whatsoever, Raphael dashed towards me with a yell. He attempted to stab me several times with his sharpened sai, but I parried his blows with my katana before landing a roundhouse kick to his face. “Raph, what the shell’s gotten into you?!” I exclaimed as my hot-blooded brother stumbled onto the ground. That was only the beginning though.</p>
<p>Leonardo and Donatello raised their weapons, looked to each other, nodded, and then charged forward silently. I had a terribly short time to choose whom to engage with first, and instead, I elected to back up. Donatello’s bo staff was the first to try and find me, and I deflected it, and therefore Donatello himself, off to the side, where my brother stumbled off slightly. While leaned into my deflection, Leonardo in his formidable tactical expertise lunged forward with both his ninjato, and I quickly raised my katana to parry the blades. That move was successful, but I almost instantly found myself shoulder to shoulder with an obviously bloodthirsty Leonardo, who shoved me against the raised platform’s railing, and then over it onto the floor below. I landed haphazardly, but on both of my feet, and backed off, knowing that Leonardo would follow me quickly, and he did, slamming down where I was just standing. Luckily, I rolled out of the way, blocking a dual overhead strike from his blades. I stumbled back a bit more. As Leonardo came back up to a standing position, Raphael and Donatello landed to his left and right respectively. In readied positions, they approached me while I continued backing away.</p>
<p>“Dudes, what’s gotten into you guys?!” I yelled. They did not answer, and instead Raphael once again charged towards me. However, he was tackled to the ground by Casey.</p>
<p>“Raph, what the hell’s up man?!” said Casey.</p>
<p>“Get off of me, Casey!” replied Raphael. “This is between me and Michelangelo!”</p>
<p>“No way, dude! You gotta chill the hell out man!” Raphael roared as he threw Casey off of him, and he grunted and breathed like a rapid animal as he stomped towards the mask-wearing vigilante, who proceeded to defend against my brother with a hockey stick. Meanwhile, Donatello started to move off to my side while Leonardo began to approach me from the front. I attempted to divide my attention between the two before April confronted Donatello herself.</p>
<p>“Donnie, stop! Now!” said April, retracting her fans to grab onto Donatello’s bo staff.</p>
<p>“April, get out of the way,” replied Donatello, wrestling with April for his weapon. “This isn’t your concern!”</p>
<p>“Oh, yes it is!” replied April. “Mikey’s my friend, and he’s <em>your brother!</em> Stop this!”</p>
<p>“You can’t possibly understand, now just step aside!” The two of them vied for control of the weapon.</p>
<p>Leonardo, unperturbed by these developments, continued to press on alone. It was now between him and me. I had a katana, while he was equipped with ninjato. I would undoubtedly have more sheer striking power by using both hands for my weapon, while his hands were each holding their own blade, and would have less power. Nevertheless, Leonardo was undisputedly the most skilled fighter out of us four, and his swordsmanship was frighteningly impeccable. I would not last long crossing blades with the eldest brother, but I had to find some way to buy time for Master Splinter to get here. He would end this fight in our favor once and for all, if I could just survive long enough for that.</p>
<p>My brother was the first to attack, initially jabbing towards my legs with his left ninjato to test my defenses. I easily parried it. Then, he swung with his right to my left shoulder blade. I blocked the probing maneuver effortlessly. Then, he tilted his head. Attempting to capitalize on this very brief opening, I executed a downward swing from the top of my head. It was instantly blocked by Leonardo’s twin ninjato in a crossed position, while he quickly closed the distance and kicked me in the diaphragm. I stumbled back and narrowly dodged another swing. Then, he attacked me with a flurry of strikes, and I hurriedly blocked them. His movements were graceful, elegant, like a dancer in some sort of choreographed piece, while I moved clumsily, barely dodging and almost by sheer luck blocking his attacks. I quickly began to tire, while he seemed to barely break a sweat.</p>
<p>At this moment, I made a mistake. That is all Leonardo needs, is for his opponent to make a mistake, and that is exactly what I did. He executed another downward swing with his two ninjato, and I blocked it, the point of my katana facing to the right of me. Then, I pushed the swords to my left side with my blade, leaving Leonardo open on my right. So, I spun around for momentum hoping to strike where he was vulnerable on his left. However, he was fast, too fast for me. By the time I faced him again, his left ninjato blocked my katana, while his right one was thrusted into my left side. I cried out in agony. The pain was terrible, and when he withdrew the blade it got worse. I recoiled, almost falling straight onto my back. Tears started to drip from my eyes, for I could scarcely remember feeling such horrid damage. My breathing became rapid and shaky. Instinctively, I gripped the wound, which began to flow with blood, while still keeping my katana trained on Leonardo. My brother was stoic, never losing his composure. The grip on my katana began to shudder, the pain was so intense. It robbed me of any sense of control. I consider myself extraordinarily blessed that Leonardo did not push further with his blade and pierce my heart. That would have killed me instantly. I now believe that he wanted to prolong the fight, to extend my suffering. In that, he was successful, and his absolute control of the situation meant that he could keep it going for as long as he pleased.</p>
<p>“Check,” my brother said. Indeed, any sword duel is essentially a game of chess. Opponents must anticipate their enemy’s moves ahead of time, sometimes by five moves, otherwise they would find themselves outmaneuvered. And like chess, amateurs and lay people have little chance of success against masters. Unlike chess, however, in the art of sword-fighting, defeat is death. My second mistake brought me only closer to my last breath, my final heartbeat.</p>
<p>Leonardo attacked me once more with a flurry of attacks from his ninjato, keeping up the pressure with the clear, singular intent of breaking my defenses. The intensity and rapidity of his motions were simply too much for me to block or parry with a single hand on my blade and with having sustained a wound. I did not know how, for the chaos of combat between us two precluded me from ever knowing, but I suddenly found myself with two new sword slashes on my chest. I retreated further, again crying out in pain. I shuddered more, as I struggled to maintain my posture. The pain being virtually unbearable, I went down to a knee, breathing raggedly, tears flowing from my eyes almost as easily as the blood flowing from my wounds. I coughed, some blood spitting out from my mouth. I lowered my guard, taking a breath.</p>
<p>“Get up,” said Leonardo, frustrated. “Get up, Michelangelo. I won’t have you keel over on your own and rob me of this kill.” I did not respond. He slapped me on the cheek with the flat face of one of his ninjato. “Get up!” I got up, my legs quaking in weakness and pain. I dropped my katana, causing Leonardo more displeasure. “You disrespect your blade like that? Pick it up! It isn’t even yours, is it?! You scavenged it from someone else, didn’t you! Pick it up and keep fighting me! Go on! <strong>Do it!</strong>” I reached down to my belt, fighting the pain, the bleeding, the tears, and drew my nunchaku. My brother was amused as I readied myself with my signature weapons, chuckling and shaking his head. “You’re an idiot,” he said.</p>
<p>I charged Leonardo, and he countercharged, yelling. As I neared him, however, I stopped, while he continued on. He lunged forward, slashing from his right to his left. I stepped back, narrowly dodging his blades before counterattacking quickly with my nunchaku, striking my brother in the face. He stumbled back, and, reluctantly, I kept the pressure up, swinging my weapons with terrifying speed, at first his face, hitting him multiple times, severely enough to cause bruising and further stun him, then I aimed for his hands, slamming the blunt weapons onto his fingers, forcing him to lose his grip on his ninjato. Then, I swept down, striking his right knee. Pained, he went down onto his other, left knee, and gripped the right one. I rushed to wrap the kusari of my nunchaku around Leonardo’s neck. I did so, and, with sorrow filling me up, I applied pressure. I wanted to choke the consciousness out of him and end this fight without any loss of limbs or life. Leonardo struggled to pull the chain off of his neck, but to no avail. Then, he attempted to grab onto my face to gouge my eyes in hopes of relieving the pressure. I leaned back, both making my visage out of his grasp and the pressure on his neck only tighter. The sounds he was making at this time made my gut wrench. Never did I dream I would do this to my own brother, my own Leonardo, yet here I was, choking him. I began sobbing as his movements started to become slower and slower, and he put up less and less of a fight. It was working, and that is what I hated most of doing this to him.</p>
<p>I took this moment to examine my surrounding. Raphael and Casey were sparring, but it seemed that the former had an upper hand against the latter. Raphael applied a furious flurry of attack against Casey, who did his best to keep distance between himself and my brother, but Raphael kept closing the distance. Without outside intervention, Casey would not last long. When I looked to Donatello and April, it was a very different story. Donatello seemed… subdued? No, that is too strong a word. Perhaps… pacified. Yes, that is the word. He did not seem enraged, angered, or even in a struggle with his staff against April, who was gently caressing his face. She kissed my brother on the lips, and his white eyes closed. Tears soon started gathering at the corners of his eyes, and he dropped his bo staff, wrapping April in his embrace.</p>
<p><em>That’s it,</em> I thought to myself.</p>
<p>“Leo,” I started. “Leo, it’s me, it’s Mikey. It’s your brother.” Leonardo did not respond. So, I eased the pressure on my nunchaku, which inspired him to continue his struggle. “Leo, I’m your brother. I’m your brother, Leo. I love you. I love you. Please, stop. Don’t do this. I’m your brother. It’s me, it’s Mikey. We’re brothers, Leo. We’re brothers, we’re family.”</p>
<p>“Shut up, shut up!” yelled Leonardo, enraged.</p>
<p>“Leo, I love you,” I continued. “I love you. I’m your brother, and I love you, Leo.” Leonardo growled again, attempting to reach for my face once more. I stayed out of reach. Then, he reached out in desperation for any weapon with which to assault me. “No, don’t do this Leo,” I added, pleading now. “Please, Leo. We’re brothers, we’re family. Please, I love you.” I needed to get through to him, to break whatever happened to him with love. If I could not, he would never stop attacking me. This must work. This needed to work. By God, I would <em>make</em> it work.</p>
<p>I grew with intense concern as Leonardo went limp, no longer fighting me or even moving. As I released him from my lock, he fell onto the concrete beside the bodies of several dead Foot ninja.</p>
<p>“Oh no, Leo!” I yelled in concern. I moved down to my brother, and turned him face-up to see if he was breathing. He was not. I checked his pulse. It was thready and weak. I scrambled to find a way to revive him, even though that was a gamble, before I was headbutted by the formerly unconscious Leonardo. It was a deception, well-executed. Even I believed his ruse. In the brief moment where I was stunned, he managed to grab a kaiken from a fallen ninja and pounced onto me, pushing down the blade towards my chest. I did my best, mustering all my strength, to keep the blade from being plunged into my chest outright. However, I felt I was only delaying the inevitable, as Leonardo used his own superior strength to edge the point of the dagger towards me.</p>
<p>“No, no! Leo, please!” I screamed out in terror, begging for that breakthrough. “Leo, it’s Mikey! It’s Mikey! I’m your brother, Leo! I love you! Please, don’t do this! No! No! No!”</p>
<p>“Shut up, get outta my head!” yelled Leonardo. His snow-white eyes glared viciously at me, and I started to cry again, despairing that my attempts to turn him back from whatever was going on were failing.</p>
<p>“Leo, Leo please! Please, oh my God, Leo! Please, I’m your brother! I’m Mikey!” I cried out. Leonardo ignored me, and instead growled as he put more and more of his weight into the kaiken, and it began poking at my chest. I started to scream in terrible fear, knowing that the blade was directly over my heart. If it went in, I would be dead. While I continued pleading with Leonardo, I did my best to move the dagger to the right, so that at the very least it could miss my heart completely. Not the most optimal situation, but it is better than being stabbed in a vital organ. “Leo, it’s me! It’s Mikey! It’s your brother! Oh God, please! Please don’t!”</p>
<p>With a roar, Leonardo used his left hand and slammed down onto the base of the handle of the kaiken, which caused the point to jab me, puncturing my chest. I yelled out in agony, and I began to cry.</p>
<p>“Aaaaah! Oh God, please! Please! Please! Don’t! No! <strong>No!!!</strong>”</p>
<p>Leonardo again slammed the handle with his free hand, pushing the kaiken further and further into my chest, with every time he did so accompanied by my screaming. After three more times of Leonardo’s slamming and several seconds of my bloodcurdling screams, the kaiken was fully embedded in me, down to the hilt. Tears fell from my eyes like waterfalls, and my arms shook in agonizing, paralyzing pain as they were frozen in place, holding onto Leonardo’s wrists. He breathed heavily, scowling at me as I started bleeding out.</p>
<p>"Checkmate," whispered Leonardo.</p>
<p>“Leo…” I whispered back. “I love you…” My voice cracked. At that moment in time, Leonardo’s face softened considerably, and his breathing slowed. He grasped his face with one of his hands, shook his head, and closed his eyes, groaning. He retreated away from me, my arms still above my chest, shaking. I felt a pool of blood begin to form near the wound in my side and several other streaks of the red liquid streaming from my chest wounds. When my brother returned to me, his dark blue eyes were back on his face, which had adopted a look of grave concern.</p>
<p>“M-M-Mikey…?” he asked, unsure of what was happening. Teardrops soon appeared from his eyes, which dripped onto my chest.</p>
<p>“Ah… there you are,” I said. “I wondered where you went.” After I made that statement, I groaned in pain, coughed, and cried.</p>
<p>“Oh my God… Oh my God, Mikey…!” Leonardo began to cry to, gripping the sides of his head with his hands in disbelief, staring down at my broken, bloodied body. In that moment, Donatello appeared from behind Leonardo, and placed his hands on his shoulders.</p>
<p>“Leo, Leo!” said Donatello, shaking the eldest brother. “We have to get to Raph! He’s just demolishing Casey now!” Donatello then pulled him up. “Come on, Leo! April!” My older brother turned away. “April, Mikey’s got a stab wound in his left side! Grab a cloth or something and apply pressure there to stop the bleeding! Go!” Then, both he and Leonardo vanished from my sight, towards the sounds of fighting. April soon appeared above me, the face of a glowing, bloody angel, her face marked with deep concern for me.</p>
<p>“Mikey, Mikey, are you okay?” she asked. “Can you hear me?” April… oh dear April. Donatello has good taste in women. You are in good hands, as is he.</p>
<p>“I’m… I’m solid, dude…” I grunted, struggling to breath. “Just-just-just don’t pull out this knife. Don’t-don’t do it. If you do, I’ll bleed to death, and that would suck.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, got it,” said April, keeping a cool head. She tore off some cloth from a dead ninja’s garb, rolled it into a large square-like shape, and pressed it against my side. The pain shot from there all throughout my body, and I yelled out. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but I have to.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, you have to, you’re doin’ fine,” I said, encouraging her. In the distance, I heard the fighting die down, and an eerie calmness fall upon the room. That is, until I heard Leonardo utter one name.</p>
<p>“Shredder!”</p>
<p>“Hamato Yoshi,” said Shredder. “<em>Shikata ga-</em>“ before Shredder could finish the code phrase, a grunt could be heard, and multiple blows landing on an individual.</p>
<p>“Master Splinter!” my three brothers said. At this moment, I started to fade in and out of consciousness, and I fought to keep my eyes awake even though every fiber of my being told me that now I should rest, after all I had done, and all had been done to me, I deserve some sleep.</p>
<p>“April!” I cried out. “April, I need you to talk to me,” I pleaded. “Keep me awake, just talk to me.”</p>
<p>“Uh, talk about what?” asked April.</p>
<p>“Doesn’t matter,” I answered. “Just find something to talk about!” I cried out briefly, some pain shooting into my mind again.</p>
<p>“Okay, okay, uh… oh… you saw me kiss Donnie then?”</p>
<p>“Heh… yeah. You like him?”</p>
<p>“Well… yeah. I mean, he’s cute and all. But… I dunno if my dad would approve or anything like that.”</p>
<p>“Donnie’s good people. He’s good people. I should know, he’s my brother. Yeah, he’s good, he’s real good.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I know that. He’s got such a… such a heart.”</p>
<p>I stared into April’s eyes, smiling.</p>
<p>“April, I need you to hold my hand, please,” I asked. She did so, gripping my right hand with her left, while her other hand kept up pressure on my wound. “I know Donnie loves you,” I added. April smiled at me, silently acknowledging this, and further telling me without saying a word that she most likely knew that already. “You two should get a room one of these days.” She blushed, chuckled, and looked around before bringing her gaze back to me, dazzling me with her innocence, despite blood splattered on her athletic skinsuit.</p>
<p>“I guess…” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “He’s adorable but… he’s shy. Especially around me. I’m not sure if he’s ready for real commitment, you know?”</p>
<p>“I think he’ll go for it,” I said. “All he needs is just a little… a little... push, you know? Just a push. Just a little incentive to take that leap of faith with you. Go for it, you’ll be surprised.”</p>
<p>After I said that, the fighting again faded away, and so did my awareness of my surroundings. Again, I began to fall into unconsciousness. This time, I did not feel like I had the strength to keep fighting for myself, so I said nothing to April.</p>
<p>“Mikey? Mikey!” she yelled, jostling me awake. “Don’t you die on me Mikey!”</p>
<p>“What? No…” I said, slurring my words. Blood loss was starting to take its toll on me. “I’m just… super tired right now, April… I think I’m gonna….”</p>
<p>“Mikey!” roared a voice. It was Raphael, and he slapped me across the face. My eyes went wide, and I tried to take the biggest gulp of air I could, but it pained me to do so. “You ain’t dying on my watch!” Suddenly I was surrounded by my brothers, my friends, and my family. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Master Splinter, April, and Casey. They encircled me like a sort of ring orbiting a heavenly body.</p>
<p>“Ugh, the gang’s all here…” I groaned, my eyes rotating around, catching sight of them. Master Splinter then started chanting. For the life of me, I could not remember what he said, nor could I remember the hand gestures he made, but I felt… something. Like… a warm blanket covering my very body, and some sort of rushing energy or life force flowing into me, through me, beyond me, connecting me with him. Leonardo began to do so as well.</p>
<p>“I don’t mean to interrupt, but this isn’t a safe area,” said Donatello. “We’ll have to get Mikey back to the lair for… for this healing hands thing.”</p>
<p>“I think that’s a good idea,” said Raphael. Leonardo was silent, staring at Master Splinter. He looked around, then down at me.</p>
<p>“Move him,” he commanded. “Quickly.”</p>
<p>“Raph, get his shoulders,” said Leonardo. “I’ll get his legs. Donnie, you, April, and Casey cover us.” Affirmations sounded out. Then, a countdown from Leonardo. “One… two… three!” My brothers lifted me up, and I screamed out in terrible pain, and I cried again.</p>
<p>“Oh God, oh God!” I cried out.</p>
<p>“Sorry, bro, but we gotta do this!” said Raphael. We rushed through the way I snuck in with April and Casey, and it felt like ages before we reached the Shellraiser. They carried me inside, and away we sped down the streets of New York City. Traffic be damned, my family would bring me home, alive. Period. However, I did not bear witness to such a journey, for I fell unconscious in the midst of the trek, despite the frantic pleas and shakings of my brothers. In fact, I only woke much, much later.</p>
<p>My eyes opened up quickly. In fact, to me, it felt as if I blinked, and in one instance I was in the Shellraiser, and in the next, I was in Donatello’s laboratory, on his examination table. Bandages were wrapped around my chest and side wounds, and an IV was stuck in my right arm’s veins. My first utterance since the battle to rescue my brothers was a groan. My body ached everywhere, and I felt as if I moved even one inch, I would be wracked with pain, so I laid motionless.</p>
<p>“Mikey?” said a voice in the distance. Footsteps closed in to me, and I looked to my left, at the direction of the door. The light pouring in from the rest of the lair to Donatello’s laboratory was suddenly blocked by my brother’s body. I looked up to his face, which was beaming with relief. He turned on the lights to the laboratory with a remote control which he promptly tossed to a distant countertop. His lower lip quivered.</p>
<p>“You’re awake! This is awesome! We-we-we thought… we thought we lost you a few times on the way back. And when we got you on this table… Oh God…” He shook his head, still staring down at me, the gap between his teeth a welcome sight in his nervous smirk that alternated between frown and smile as he was filled with conflicting emotions of intense grief and great joy. “Oh God, you were dead for ninety seconds.” He covered his mouth, suppressing a sob. “You didn’t have a pulse… Oh God, I couldn’t revive you, the shock pads couldn’t restart your heart! Oh God…!” He began weeping, burying his hands in his face. Never have I seen such emotion from Donatello before. He leaned on the table, one hand gripping the edge and the other covering his eyes. I saw drops of tears cascade from behind his hand.</p>
<p>“So…” I started weakly, “how am I still alive?” Donatello returned his gaze to me, his eyes red from weeping. He sniffed, cleared his throat, and wiped his face clean of the streaks of water. Then, he sighed, leaning on the table via his elbows, bringing his face down to mine, his chin wresting on his wrists.</p>
<p>“I can’t explain it,” Donatello answered, shaking his head. “Master Splinter and Leo, they just… healed you. I can’t… Like… okay. They started chanting in Japanese, I couldn’t recognize the words. Then, they made these weird hand gestures and then they hovered their hands over you and… it was honestly scary. Your blood just started going back into your wounds, and once that was done… your wounds themselves… they just started closing on their own.” I too was deeply shocked by such an act. Such power. Our sensei is certainly greater than we realize… as is Leonardo, for he had access to such raw power, such mystical, esoteric knowledge. Oh, imagine what wonders I could accomplish with the same knowledge and power.</p>
<p>“Mikey…” said Donatello, gently grasping my hand as he stood back upright, only to lean down to me, placing his forehead on mine, closing his eyes. I closed mine too. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I’m sorry, Mikey. I’m sorry for attacking you.”</p>
<p>“Well, to be honest,” I replied, “you didn’t really attack me. Neither did Raph. It was more like you trying to poke me with a big stick and me just saying ‘Nah.’” Donatello snickered and smiled once again, lifting himself up off of me..</p>
<p>“Ah, God…” continued Donatello. “It’s good to see you back, but you really should rest.”</p>
<p>“How long have I been out anyway?”</p>
<p>“Two days.”</p>
<p>“Two whole days! Man, I gotta get up…” As I attempted to bring myself up to a seated position Donatello quickly put his hand on my shoulder, gently pushing me back down.</p>
<p>“Ah ah ah, no way Mikey,” countered my brother. “You gotta rest.”</p>
<p>“Hey, Donnie, what’s going on in here?” said Raphael from a distance, stepping into the laboratory. “Is Mikey awake?”</p>
<p>“Oh yes he is!” replied Donatello excitedly. Raphael rushed the table and brushed Donatello aside like a hurricane sweeps away a dead palm tree. I heard a distinct crash in the far side of the room.</p>
<p>“Mikey!” cried out Raphael, a wide grin on his face. He hugged me with all his might, crushing my upper body and throwing me into a flurry of pain.</p>
<p>“Oh, hey!” I replied. “How you doin’, Raph?”</p>
<p>“Heh, I should be asking you that, bro!” he said. He smile softened and his eyebrows furrowed after he released me. He shut his mouth, and it slowly turned into a frown. “About… about what happened back there… when we attacked you-“</p>
<p> “Well, you didn’t really attack me, bro,” I said, stopping Raphael from completing his sentence. “I mean, you tried. You really did. But… eh.” Raphael smirked again, and punched me in the shoulder. I grinned and bore the pain that came with the gesture.</p>
<p>“Leo…” said Raphael. “He’s real fucked up about almost killing you. We all know he landed the real hurt onto you, and… and he’s just been in his room ever since. It’s locked, and I don’t really wanna pick it and barge in. But… if he knows you’re alright then maybe he’ll come out or somethin’. You… you wanna see him?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I wanna see him,” I answered quickly. “Can you get him?”</p>
<p>“Sure, sure,” replied Raphael, nodding. He stepped out of the laboratory. Donatello moved into my view again, rubbing his side.</p>
<p>“Well, <em>that’s </em>another cold fusion generator prototype I’ll have to write off,” commented the remaining brother.</p>
<p>“Oh, so that’s what that was,” I said. “I thought it was a leg warmer or something. Donatello stared at me incredulously.</p>
<p>“A leg warmer?” he asked. I nodded slightly. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Don’t tell me you used it as a leg warmer.”</p>
<p>“I mean… it didn’t really work well.”</p>
<p>“Dear Lord, Mikey…” Donatello sighed, rubbing the space between his eyes. Shuffling footsteps echoed from beyond the laboratory, catching the attention of the both of us. In the doorway stood Leonardo and Raphael.</p>
<p>“Here he is Mikey,” said Raphael. “The guy who nearly bodied you.”</p>
<p>“Raph!” snapped Donatello. Raphael shrugged his shoulders, then nudged Leonardo with his elbow.</p>
<p>“Go on, bro,” he said. “Mikey won’t bite.”</p>
<p>Leonardo averted his gaze for as long as possible, most likely ashamed to look me in the eye. He sighed, blinked, and then turned his head up to make eye contact with me. He walked up to the table where I lay. He said nothing as he stood over me, gently placing his hand onto the bandage where he plunged that kaiken. He was as stone-faced as ever, but I knew. I felt it, and based on what Raphael said, my brother was torn apart on the inside, plagued by the thoughts of taking the life of his own brother, the youngest one. He needed to be cheered up.</p>
<p>“Hey Leo,” I said. “Donnie said that I shouldn’t use my left side for a while. That includes my left arm.” I paused for effect. “I’m gonna need you to wipe my ass from now on.”</p>
<p>Raphael and Donatello laughed and snickered, respectively at my comment. Leonardo cracked a smile, and I too laughed at my crude humor.</p>
<p>“Oh, shit, I probably shouldn’t laugh, it kinda hurts,” I said, groaning.</p>
<p>“Mikey,” started Leonardo, “I dunno what to say other than I’m sorry… I was-“</p>
<p>“It’s not your fault,” I quickly said. “It was that stupid Shredder. He did… something to you guys.”</p>
<p>“He fucking mind raped us, bro,” said Raphael, crossing his arms. “Fucking mind rape.”</p>
<p>“Crude, but accurate term,” added Donatello. “First, they pumped us full of hallucinogenic drugs: PCP, DMT, MDMA, the whole alphabet. Then, they slapped VR headsets onto us and started feeding us… suggestive imagery. Repeating phrases. They… they were conditioning us.”</p>
<p>“Brainwashing,” commented Leonardo.</p>
<p>“So, like some sort of ‘Manchurian Candidate’ thing?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, exactly,” answered Donatello. “All Shredder needed to do was utter a code phrase to activate us: in this case he chose <em>“Shikata ga nai.”</em></p>
<p>“’It cannot be helped.’”</p>
<p>"And no brain worms?" I asked. </p>
<p>"None," said Donatello. "I guess Shredder didn't want to take any risks that the worms could be taken out or something like that." I nodded.</p>
<p>Donatello sighed. “Luckily," he continued, "they only had us for eight hours. If they kept us for a few more days the conditioning would’ve been permanent.”</p>
<p>“How’d we manage to break it, then? The conditioning.”</p>
<p>“Well, strong emotional responses could release the adrenaline needed to overpower the mental conditioning,” explained my high-intelligence brother. “Anger. Fear. Love.” I nodded slowly.</p>
<p>Leonardo suddenly backed away from the table, which puzzled me. He passed by my other brothers and hurried off to the door to the laboratory. He stopped at the portal, however, and stood there for what seemed an eternity. Then, he turned to face the door, and banged his head against the cold steel. An intense, sorrow-filled frown appeared on his face. Then, he turned around, his shell on the portal, and slid down, seating himself on the floor, burying his face in his hands. Raphael and Donatello walked over to Leonardo to console him. I wanted to do so to, and indeed I did, forcing myself up off of the table, ripping the IV out of my elbow. I fell to the floor.</p>
<p>"Oh snap!” I yelled as my battered body slammed onto the cold hard ground. Donatello rushed to me.</p>
<p>“Mikey, no!” he said, admonishing me. “You gotta get rest, your body needs time to heal on its own!” I shooed him away, and grabbed my brother’s bo staff, using it as a crutch as I hobbled over to Leonardo. Raphael shuffled aside, not stopping me from what I needed to do.</p>
<p>“Leo…” I said somewhat weakly, going to my knees, my hands sliding down the staff as I went to the ground. I heard quiet sobbing coming from my distraught brother. He shook his head.</p>
<p>“I almost killed you,” said Leonardo, muffled, refusing to look upon me. I put my left hand on his right shoulder, despite the pain that motion would mean to me. I winced as my hand fell onto my brother, but breathed in sharply and bore it like a soldier. “Oh God,” continued my brother. “Oh God… I’m <em>sorry</em>…” Leonardo’s “sorry” was a deeper, more sorrowful, more pained “sorry” than I have ever heard in my life. No “sorry” was ever uttered to me that held such deep melancholy, such horrible regret, such emotion, such weight. Leonardo’s almost-shattered demeanor moved me deeply as well, and I fought back tears as I rubbed his shoulders.</p>
<p>“Look at me, bro,” I said. “Leonardo… look at me.” He did so reluctantly, turning his face towards me, his face still wet with tears. “You’re my brother. I love you, man. Nothing can change that. Nothing.” In that moment, I wrapped my left arm completely around Leonardo’s shoulders, groaning in pain. I smirked at him in a gesture of reassurance that all was well, and he seemed to have taken that to heart. He smiled back, and soon I found myself crowded by my family. I heard more footsteps outside the lab, and saw Master Splinter approach, flanked by April and Casey, who had several bruises all over his face. I smiled at them too as they walked over.</p>
<p>“You know guys…” I said, addressing everyone. “I think I’m in a Lombardi’s mood.” Chuckling broke out amongst us. Mmm… pepperoni. Savory, cheesy, garlic-y, the crust a perfect crunch, the gooey cheese beautifully melted, the tomato sauce sprinkled with oregano and spices… Ohh… oh yeah.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Mikey's narration of this episode may seem unusually... eloquent. I was going for such a route because several times in the comics it's mentioned that he's a budding fiction writer, so I thought that it might make sense that he could describe the scene in more elegant language with a complete absence of contractions outside of dialogue. That is, until the very end, when his mind starts wandering off to pizza.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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